Sleep By The Fire, Bloom Water'

[BenJ]

This was a slightly more challenging mix, but i eventually got there (i think). I've been battling with the fact that whilst the guitars have often seemed too loud in the mix they havent stood out very much (if that makes any sense to anyone...?)

Any feedback is very welcome

I've played around with the drum compression settings a little, and have also adjusted the overall levels in the second track The third track is yet another mix attempt

[FytaKyte]

Hey Ben, I really like the vocal tone you got on your mix. In pop/rock styles the vocal is always king, and you've done it justice here. I enjoyed some of the fx flourishes you put in too - tastefully done...

Instrumentally, there are a few things that could be improved:

Probably the first thing that would improve your mix greatly is paying more attention to the buildup of the low-mid frequencies in the bass and drums. The bass in particular needs some sculpting around the 200-300hz range, as it is tending to compromise the clarity of the low end, especially when you add the buildup happening in the drums in that area.

Remember that not many elements in the mix apart from the kick, floor tom and bass have much of anything useful going on below 100hz, so high passing the unwanted stuff can really help the mix to retain clarity when you start compressing stuff.

The drums are also lacking top end "bite" to them, and the kick and snare in particular are getting lost on some hits, due to not enough dynamic control. That backbeat needs to hit at a fairly consistent volume to compete with the wall of guitars. Try using perhaps a little more compression on the snare, but slow the attack enough so that the transient still pops through. The snare sample that was provided with the multitrack might help in getting a more consistent sound, so maybe bring that up in the drum mix a bit. If you're not already using it, try compressing the drums all together in a drum buss in addition to compression on individual mics. Parallel compression on drums is also worth exploring with material like this. Don't be shy of turning up the high-mids on the snare and kick. The area around 4-7k is where you can get a lot of "snap", "crack" and "tick" out of the snare and kick respectively, so experiment with that.

The guitars in this multitrack sounded good, but they lacked some low-mid "beef" around the 200hz mark. That thinner sound works pretty well in the verses, but it tends to lack the necessary wallop in the choruses. The fact that your bass is quite overpowering in that same area tends to mask any frequency content the guitars have in that space, so that exacerbates the problem of perceived "thinness". Once you clear out the bass a little there it may help some, but you may want to boost the guitars around that 200hz area. Try experimenting with getting different tones for the verse and chorus guitars using track "multing". Adding a little around 800hz may also thicken up the guitar tone a little. These aren't rules or anything - just throwing out some suggestions you may want to experiment with.

Hope that helps!

[BenJ]

Hey Ben, I really like the vocal tone you got on your mix. In pop/rock styles the vocal is always king, and you've done it justice here. I enjoyed some of the fx flourishes you put in too - tastefully done...

Instrumentally, there are a few things that could be improved:

Probably the first thing that would improve your mix greatly is paying more attention to the buildup of the low-mid frequencies in the bass and drums. The bass in particular needs some sculpting around the 200-300hz range, as it is tending to compromise the clarity of the low end, especially when you add the buildup happening in the drums in that area.

Remember that not many elements in the mix apart from the kick, floor tom and bass have much of anything useful going on below 100hz, so high passing the unwanted stuff can really help the mix to retain clarity when you start compressing stuff.

The drums are also lacking top end "bite" to them, and the kick and snare in particular are getting lost on some hits, due to not enough dynamic control. That backbeat needs to hit at a fairly consistent volume to compete with the wall of guitars. Try using perhaps a little more compression on the snare, but slow the attack enough so that the transient still pops through. The snare sample that was provided with the multitrack might help in getting a more consistent sound, so maybe bring that up in the drum mix a bit. If you're not already using it, try compressing the drums all together in a drum buss in addition to compression on individual mics. Parallel compression on drums is also worth exploring with material like this. Don't be shy of turning up the high-mids on the snare and kick. The area around 4-7k is where you can get a lot of "snap", "crack" and "tick" out of the snare and kick respectively, so experiment with that.

The guitars in this multitrack sounded good, but they lacked some low-mid "beef" around the 200hz mark. That thinner sound works pretty well in the verses, but it tends to lack the necessary wallop in the choruses. The fact that your bass is quite overpowering in that same area tends to mask any frequency content the guitars have in that space, so that exacerbates the problem of perceived "thinness". Once you clear out the bass a little there it may help some, but you may want to boost the guitars around that 200hz area. Try experimenting with getting different tones for the verse and chorus guitars using track "multing". Adding a little around 800hz may also thicken up the guitar tone a little. These aren't rules or anything - just throwing out some suggestions you may want to experiment with.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the advice I've already used a lot of parallel compression on the drum kit but will certainly explore the different ways to make it more effective. I will definitely experiment with the guitar tones as you suggested - I always leave guitars last to mix because i find them the hardest.